Asian stocks head for best monthly gain since 2010

THREE-YEAR HIGH:An analyst attributed the surge in the region’s markets to the Fed’s unexpected stimulus retention and good data prompting a more bullish view on China

Bloomberg and AFP

Asian stocks rose this month, with the benchmark index heading for its biggest gain in three years, as the US Federal Reserve unexpectedly maintained stimulus and data signaled that China’s economy is strengthening.

Tencent Holdings Ltd (騰訊), Asia’s biggest Internet company, gained 11 percent in Hong Kong this month to touch a record high, while Tokyo Electron Ltd surged 31 percent after Applied Materials Inc announced a plan to take over the Tokyo-based company. Acom Co soared 49 percent, spurring the consumer lender to the biggest gain on the Asian equities index, after a report said that Japan’s non-bank loans to individuals are picking up.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose 7.5 percent this month through Friday, the most since September 2010, and added 0.1 percent this week.

The US Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) said on Sept. 18 that it wants more evidence that improvement in the US economy will be sustained before slowing the pace of its US$85 billion in monthly asset purchases.

“After the FOMC meeting, investors saw that the Fed was more dovish than they expected, so the rebound was huge,” Grace Tam, a Hong Kong-based global market strategist at JPMorgan Asset Management, said in a telephone interview. “People were too bearish on China and are now starting to feel some relief. If China is doing good, it helps the rest of Asia.”

In Taipei, the TAIEX rose 0.56 percent, or 46 points, to end at 8,230.68 on Friday, compared with 8,209.18 on Sept. 18, the last day of trading that week before markets shut for the Mid-Autumn Festival.